Easel.



PATBNTED JULY 3, 1906.

C. R- HOAG.

BASEL. APPLICATION FILED APR.18,1905.

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E QMWL A TTHRJVEY CHESTER R. HOAG, OF NEWARK,

NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR To THE VVHITEHEAD & HOAG COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A

CORPORATION OF NEWV JERSEY.

EASEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1906.

Application filed April 18. 1905- Serial No. 266,265-

1'0 all whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHESTER R. HOAG, of Newark, in the county of Essex, in the State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Easels, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in easels, and refers more particularly to paper or cardboard easels for supporting photographs, advertising-cards, and analogous articles.

My object is to produce a collapsible paper or cardboard easel having substantially two legs hinged together at one end and a brace attached to the lower end of one leg and having its free end detachably interlocked with the other leg intermediate its ends.

One of the specific objects is to provide the brace and leg with which it interlocks with shoulders or looking elements which when moved to a certain position prevents such parts from being pulled apart or collapsed and when moved, to another position permits these parts to be separated and folded upon the front leg.

Another object is to provide the easel with a suitable apertured projection whereby it may be hung upon a nail or other projection upon a wall.

' Other objects and uses will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved easel shown as operatively secured to a card. .Fig. 2 is a top plan of the locking end of the brace. Fig. 3 is an elevation of a portion of the rear leg of the easel, showing the T-shaped slot with which the brace interlocks.

This easel com rises, essentially, a strip of paper which is fo ded at 1 to form front and rear legs 2 and 3, the rear leg 3 being somewhat longer than the front leg and reinforced by a comparatively stiff piece of cardboard 4 of substantially the same length and width, said reinforcing-piece 4 bein adhesively secured to the inner face an constituting a part of the rear leg 3.

The leg 3 and its reinforcing-piece 4 are formed with a T-shaped slot 5, substantially midway between its side edges and some diswhich in such case becomes a part of the easel, the lower edges of the card a and leg 3 resting upon a table or other support to hold the card and easel in an upright position. The lower end of the leg 2 is bent rearwardly,

forming a ledge 6, to which is adhesively se- I cured the front end of a brace 7. This brace 7 is of substantially the same width as the legs 2 and 3 and when free is adapted to be folded with the. flap 6 against the rear face of the leg 2, but its free end is formed with a.

T-shaped projection 8, which is. reduced in width to substantially the transverse length of and enters the wider part of the slot 5 in the leg 3.

The narrow portion or neck of the T- shapeld head 8 is of substantially the same or s 1g t r or nec of the slot 5, so that when the head 8 is inserted through the slot 5 its narrow portion' is depressed into the narrow portion of said slot, thereby locking the brace and leg 3 together to prevent the spreading or collapse of said leg and constituting a substantially triangular easel, it being understood that the portion of the brace in front of the narrow portion of the head 8 engages the front face of the leg 3 and that the larger ortion of the head 8 engages the rear face of the leg 3.

tab or projection 9, of paper or equivalent materiaL'is adhesivel secured to the front leg 2 .of the easel, pre erably between it and the card a, and is formed with an aperture 10, whereby the com lete devicemay be sus ended from a suitab e projection, as a na' or other wall fastening. en'it is desired to collapse this easel for storage or transportation, the free end of the brace 7 is rocked upwardly until the larger less width than the narrower portion part of the head 8 is registered with the larger art of the slot 5, whereupon the leg 3 may be moved rearwardly,'or the front leg moved forwardly to withdraw the head 8 through the slot 5, after which the brace 7 is folded upwardly against the front leg 2 and the rear leg 3' is folded forwardly upon the brace and front leg, thus producing an easel WlllCh IOO front leg and, its other end formed with a T- shaped head having its narrower portion of a I 5 Width approximately e ual that of the lower reduced portion of the s 0t, and its wider por- 1 tion of a width ap roximately equal that of the upper enlarge end of the slot.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my 20 hand this 23d day of January, 1905.

CHESTER R. HOAG.

occupies a minimum space when collapsed and may be manufactured at a minimum cost and applied to any photograph or other article to be displayed for supporting it in a substantially upright position.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'

' An easel comprising a front leg, a rear leg hinged at its upper end to the front legand having a T-shaped slot in its lower end with 1 the larger end of the slot uppermost, a brace having one end hinged to the lower end of the Witnesses:

A. K. BEARD, I. M. LONGHEAD. 

